Anti's MicroStealth Cab Design (Dr. Bud Method)

[Green Smoke]

Just a thought on moving air. This weekend I completed a test I've been thinking about for awhile now. I took a blower that I pulled from an old Jeep Wrangler and connected it to a computer power supply. It's been running since Firday night with no adverse effects. The blower has three hot wires (low, med and high). The high is definately too loud, however the low setting was way quiet and still moved a ton of air. I may have come across a way to get good air movement, remain quiet, and all for the low low cost of,..well,..ZERO dollars! If you are mechanical at all, then you can get a blower at a junk yard for cheap and computer power supply's seem to fall out of the sky lately. I'm sure that the rating of the power supply and the type of blower you use will matter so some trial and error will be involved. I got lucky with mine. I'm one of those sick bastards that likes to tinker with things and I'm actualy enjoying the ride of going "back to the drawing board". Anyway, if you're on a budget, then
this appears to be a viable option to remain quiet and move air as well.
Peace

 

[strydr]

Nice find Green Smoke!
One of my favorite parts of this hobby is the DIY tinkering involved. I love making things, and making things work. It always involves some trial and error, but that just makes you more knowledgeable. Having a forum like this to find out what others have tried is great, but never stop experimenting, and you end up with a find like yours.

 

[immortal]

looking good. Ive also been trying todesign a similar stealth cab with an included drying chamber. Im keeping the design in my head for now though. Good luck

 

[Thundurkel]

Ok buddy I thought I'd chime in with my fans as I don't have inlines and I'm moving 220cfm with 2 AC Axial fans and they are heavy duty and solid not not plastic frame pc fan and they are WAY quieter than the inlines I've heard can't speak on the whisper but I find it hard to believe it would be quieter than what I use ...

my fan's specs are the top row 3000 rpm 110 cfm

here's a link to order them, the way I see it I saved a lot of money going with these cuz a 4" Vortex inline only moves 172CFM for $180 I spent $40 and move 220CFM and it's quieter IMO and could be masked with a fishtank pump for SURE

http://www.arcade-electronics.com/detail.aspx?ID=21305

 

[Thundurkel]

Nice find Green Smoke!
One of my favorite parts of this hobby is the DIY tinkering involved. I love making things, and making things work. It always involves some trial and error, but that just makes you more knowledgeable. Having a forum like this to find out what others have tried is great, but never stop experimenting, and you end up with a find like yours.

ME TOO! There's nothing like being able to say "yea I built it from scratch too!"

 

[strydr]

Thundurkle,
Do you have a good way to slow down a PC fan? I have two fans that came out of a huge (IBM P5) server that move some amazing volume of air, but @ full speed they sound like the shuttle @ take off. I've tried using a PC PS, but there are only 3 available voltages. I really need something like a speedster, but for DC. I'll find some specs on the fans, but I know they are speed controllable, as the server they came out of had full hardware manageability. Also, the fans have a speed control pin (labeled, but I don't know how to use it)

 

[Thundurkel]

Nah I don't and my fans are AC just using a lamp cord for them and they work GREAT!! I was so shocked how much air they moved compared to the window fan I was using months ago

 

[simba]

not to hijack but all those CFLS how about one 150 watt CMH (use either magcore ballast or Electronic) be more effective.
id recommend
MHC150/U/MP/4K/ALTO
Init Lumen s 12,000 ~ Mean Lumen s 9,000
(depending on ur cfls u may top those lumen s For total output but getting all that energy down to the plants is hard ( Adv tech had a custom reflector made and it still wasnt effective.and now doesn't sell CFL any more for Horti.)
It be super easy to just add a peice of glass between the bulb and plants and that would pull 90% of the heat out..
id even say u can go to a 100 watt in that area
IMPHO when using CFLS vs HID you need more CFL watts than u would with HID
(generally speaking)

 

[strydr]

Simba,
I think, in this case the CFL's would be better. While I do like (and use) CMH (due to your thread), with 6 42watt CFL's, Anti would get higher lumens spread out over a much bigger footprint.
ex: I have a closet space that used to house a 600HPS. I found everything grew towards the light (center). This caused a fight between the two ladies sharing space, and one won out, and outgrew the other by quite a bit (double in size). Now, I use two hoods (2x400 CMH , spaced out over the entire grow, and things are much happier.

As for Anti, I say build it for CFL's, space the bases far apart enough to fit the 42watt's, and add whatever bulbs you want. The smaller 27watt bulbs can be bought in bulk for cheap, and if they prove to not be enough, you could always replace any incadesents around the house with them, and upgrade to a bigger bulb. You will find changing seasons may allow/force changing out bulbs for temp. control. Just go with the flow, and everything will work out fine. You have a great start (measure twice, cut once), and I'm sure soon enough you'll be posting a log of your success.

 

[catman]

I just wanted to chime in about the Whisper fan.

I've heard can't speak on the whisper but I find it hard to believe it would be quieter than what I use ...

When my lights come on tonight I will try and do an accurate reading with a microphone to give some "real" evidence.

Like I've said before.. The Whisper motor is quieter than a 120mm 110-120CFM 12V DC fan dialed down to approx 80cfm. There is no higher pitch buzz that sounds like a computer.

There will always be noise from them air flow, but I the Whispers motors is almost completely silent. I hear a small "tick..tick..tick" every second, but that is it and you have to put your ear next to it notice.

S&P seems like a great fan, but they where not designed to be quiet. The Whisper was designed to be as silent as possible.

There is some confusion about the Whisper fans because people don't clarify which one they have! The one I use is rated for 0.3-0.4 sones at 80CFM where ass the 110CFM version is 1.0 sones because they use different motors!

So if silence is your goal and 80 CFM will do I, it would seem the Whisper is a better choice.. Above 80CFM I do not have as much confidence to make a claim as I've never heard a S&P.

 

[LLCoolBud]

Nice work man awesome plans.

 

[Peanut Butter]

One thing I was considering was building a DIY carbon filter that could go in the space between the exhaust holes for each room and the room above. That way, the fan could be mounted in the upper room and the filter could be directly below it.

Do you mean a carbon bed that flows from the bottom or a large diameter DIY filter that pulls air in the outside perimeter? I was thinking about making a DIY style filter out of a a couple large diameter round picture frames....something like that might work great for you if you could get an extra inch or two between the exhaust ceilings. If you meant a carbon bed, it will need to be elevated off the interior ceiling of the cab...combining the restriction of exhaust ports with the restriction of carbon is no good.

Most of the threads here suggest having at LEAST double the passive intake that you have in exhaust. Since my exhaust is ultimately a 4" circular hole, I put (5) 1" holes in the top. Just figured that having the holes evenly spaced around the top of the cab would allow for uniform heat transfer with minimum LUMEN loss because of light escaping through the holes. So having more intake than exhaust has never been mentioned as a problem on anything I've read. Anybody else think that this is an issue?

I take it the fan your planning on using is a 4" diameter. That hole has a surface area of ~12.5sqin. The ten 1" holes have a combined surface area of 7.85sqin and they have more resistance since they have a larger combined perimeter with lower cross section. Without accounting for anything else, your already putting strain on the fan. The reason double is suggested is to create minimal resistance. Normally the double figure is used when the exhaust port for the cab is directly connected to the fan(or carbon filter in cab, then ducting and fan)

In your situation I'd probably shoot for double the area of the fan as your intake and exhaust port. This would be because your exhaust ports above the lights are not really exhaust ports...simply intake ports to another room. If you intake slots are 1x12"(guessing from pictures) your good there, but your exhaust holes as pictured will be a restriction. Even if you match surface area with a bunch of 1" holes, there will be additional friction due to the larger perimeter of all the small holes. I'd really try to open them up more

I'm going to be running staggered perpetual SOG harvest. So each week I'll be pulling buds out and putting more in. The original purpose of the drying room was simply to put some space between the two lit cabs because they'd be generating heat and I didn't want them sharing a common wall. The size of the flowering room is based on Dr. Bud's cab, which was 2.7sq ft with 36 plantlets in staggered perpSOG. This chamber is 2.01 sq ft and I'm planning on 25-30 plantlets. Bigger just means more watts, more plants, more time. If I can get 5g per plantlet, 5-6 plants a week, I'll be sitting on about an ounce a week. That'll more than supply my needs.

I understand the concern for heat and not wanting to share a common wall and I really like the idea of the drying room, but I just didnt think u need the floorspace for drying. Sharing heat wont be a problem as long as you have 2 seperate walls with air flowing throught them. If your planning on pulling plantlets every week, that means a maximum of only 1/8" of your floorspace of the flower room will be required to dry. If your not interested in expanding the flower room, you could cut down your overall cab width a few inches. Either way, it doesnt really matter, just something I'd thought I'd point out.

 

[Anti]

In your situation I'd probably shoot for double the area of the fan as your intake and exhaust port. This would be because your exhaust ports above the lights are not really exhaust ports...simply intake ports to another room. If you intake slots are 1x12"(guessing from pictures) your good there, but your exhaust holes as pictured will be a restriction. Even if you match surface area with a bunch of 1" holes, there will be additional friction due to the larger perimeter of all the small holes. I'd really try to open them up more

Well, what do you think would be reasonable?

I originally designed it with 4" circular holes centered above the lights. I thought the 1" holes would be a better choice as far as light loss, but I neglected to do the actual math. Do you think 4" holes would be big enough? Or do you think it'd be better to do a 1" x 12" strip in the back of the roof of the cab?

Does anybody think it would work quieter/more efficiently to have an exhaust fan on the veg chamber and the mother chamber? Like instead of an 80-100 CFM fan trying to handle the whole box, two 40-50 CFM fans, each with its own filter? That was in the original design of the box, but I just liked the idea of getting it all done with one fan if possible.

If your planning on pulling plantlets every week, that means a maximum of only 1/8" of your floorspace of the flower room will be required to dry. If your not interested in expanding the flower room, you could cut down your overall cab width a few inches. Either way, it doesnt really matter, just something I'd thought I'd point out.

Hmm. That's an idea. I was trying to leave room so that I could hang dry the plants in that chamber with plenty of room between them for air circulation. Since the plantlets are going to be nearly the height of the chamber, I figured it made sense to make sure there was plenty of room so that they could be hung without touching each other or the walls or the floor. I had also toyed with the idea of building a couple of silkscreen shelves that could be spaced 6-8" apart, but simply hanging some string like a clothesline seemed cheaper and easier and probably just as effective. But if I was to shrink the size of the chamber, maybe the silkscreen would be a better alternative. So the buds could effectively "float" in the middle of the chamber, even if it's relatively narrow.

 

[Peanut Butter]

what about putting holes above the area of the bulb socket/ballasts? placing a 1 1/2" hole(8 per side) above each ballast would give you ~14.sqin of port area per side. Then you would have about the equivelant of the intake port size and would be much more free flowing.

Drawing out over the ballast gives you 2 advantages....air is going to be drawn over the ballast and through the bulb...and much of the light that will be lost into the hole would have been reflected back into the socket and wasted anyway.

 

[guest 77721]

Take a peek at my designs. I separate the light cooling and the scrubber into two separate functions. The lights need maximum airflow from an unrestricted fan and the plants need a gentle air exchange through a small scrubber.

Computer fans are considerably quieter than any of the other fan types.

 

[THiCk]

For the 1" holes above the lights, just bump them up to 2" and you'll be fine. Or you could keep them at 1", and just add 3 more for a total of 8. Drill one above where each cfl will be so air will pull directly past it, which will keep them very cool.

 

[Anti]

Take a peek at my designs. I separate the light cooling and the scrubber into two separate functions. The lights need maximum airflow from an unrestricted fan and the plants need a gentle air exchange through a small scrubber.

Computer fans are considerably quieter than any of the other fan types.

Red... I've already read many of your threads. Namaste. I just read the 150w Cab thread in your sig and I think I get where you're going with this. Basically, I would just need to build a little shelf bracket about an inch below the lights and drop a pre-cut piece of glass in. Is there a certain kind of glass I'm looking for, or just regular hardware store replacement window glass?

Give me a day or two and I'll modify the blueprint to reflect this idea and post it for everyone's approval. I have an idea about routing some of the vents using some of the vertical space in the drying chamber that will just require a lit time to tweak out. I'll post results when I've got them.

I'm very encouraged by the response so far. Once we've dialed in the model (keeping price in mind as a factor. A Rockefeller I am not.) I'd like to get started on construction ASAP and I will keep a nice photo record of the build.

 

[Anti]

New Cab Design! Check it out!

New Cab Design! Check it out!

Edit: Below is the new cab design, based on suggestions by several contributors on this and other threads.

 

[Anti]

New Cab Design! Check it out!

New Cab Design! Check it out!

So here's the cab redesign.

So, here's a list of the major changes from the original design at beginning of this thread:

#1) I switched to pulling instead of pushing with my carbon to make it a little easier on my fan.

#2) Re-routed the cab exhaust vents and added a pane of glass so that I can separately exhaust the lights. Now it'll run three micro (PC) fans instead of one large inline. I also doubled the size of the light-proofing air ducts between cabs with the hopes of lessening pressure on the fan

#3) Raised mother and flower chamber a few inches. Chamber is still 23.5" but now the lights are in the glass partition ABOVE that 23.5" effectively raising plant ceiling 3".

#4) Shrank drying chamber and added a carbon filter chamber. (Necessary so that I could route the plant room exhaust and the light room exhaust seperately.

#5) Shrank overall cab height by 3", which adds to the asthetic appeal of the CD cabinet face, hopefully helping to keep people from spending too much time looking at it.

Here's the modified airflow diagram:

Side view:

Because I cut 3" out of total cab height, I was able to get the CD shelves on the stealth-face all evened out. There are 6 shelves, with space for more than 700 cds.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Absolutely LOVE the presentation of your cab design Anti. I also dig the dual chamber setup you have going there. Opens up a lot of options I don't currently have right now.

I was wondering if you had considered using the PL-L lamps with that design yet?
They really are the most efficient CFLs for growing right now and, since your cab size is perfect and the wattage is just about the same, only a bit higher, I can't see why it wouldn't be a super win situation for you.

Granted it would run you about $100 for lighting on each side but you'd enjoy lower temps and a higher lumen output as well as an almost 2 year lifespan on your bulbs.
24" is perfect to mount a PL-L lamp in.

Edit: You may not even need any glass for them, since the ballast can be in the drying chamber.
Then again, that's 19,000+ lumens in that little of a space. Might be overkill??